Paula Fredriksen— How is the ancient Jew—and, later, the ancient Christian—distinguished from his contemporary neighbor, the pagan? Biblical communities were monotheist, many people will answer; pagan communities were polytheist. For majority culture, many divinities populated the heavens. Biblical religions, more austere, clung to belief in a single god. Belief that
By his own estimation David Bentley Hart has written “either an extremely ambitious or extremely unambitious book,” though he tends toward latter. In The Experience of God, Hart sets out to write something akin to a definition of God, so indeed the concept is vast. Still, Hart tackles it with
“Shall I receive the gift?” “Shall I be reconciled with my son?” “Shall I be poisoned?” These questions were all found in an oracle book created in the late third century B.C., as part of an exhaustive numbered list of queries one might pose. Their answers could be found by